While you scroll Black Friday and Cyber Monday deals this week, your purchases might just make an appearance on the Las Vegas Sphere.
Shopify worked with Sphere to create real-time activation on the structure’s exosphere, which it says is the world’s largest LED screen, enveloping the immersive globe-shaped Sin City venue. That screen opened up to advertisers last year, giving advertisers an extravagant new way to make their mark in a city with a reputation for over-the-top.
It’s also a way for Shopify to highlight the scale of its platform. It’s often an invisible, behind-the-scenes e-commerce technology partner for businesses ranging from small entrepreneurs to large retailers, explained Brennan Loh, chief brand officer at Shopify.
“On an annual basis, Shopify would be the second largest retailer in the United States,” Loh said. Earlier this year, cumulative sales made on the platform since its inception exceeded $1 trillion.
It is the second year in a row that Shopify worked with Sphere to transfer Black Friday shopping data from its e-commerce platform to Las Vegas. The Live Globe concept, however, predates the Sphere: Shopify created a digital visualization of its Black Friday purchase data every year since 2018.
The Live Globe shows a world map with streaks of light crossing borders and continents as purchases are made, visualizing every transaction made through the e-commerce platform.
This year, there will be additional Easter Egg-style entertainment, Loh said. For example, every time a merchant makes their very first sale on the platform, fireworks explode from their location on the map.
BFCM live on the @SphereVegas
And I mean really living! Turns out the Sphere can be powered by the Unreal Engine, so of course we had to go for it. Place an order from your phone, see it arc in front of you! pic.twitter.com/ecsNIQhVic
– Tobi Lutke (@tobi) November 29, 2024
Shopify and Sphere have signed a multi-year agreement that will ensure the 580,000 square foot activation becomes an annual tradition. The companies declined to disclose financial details of this transaction.
“We want brands to be innovative and challenge us, and for us to challenge them in return and do incredible work and show the potential and possibilities of this canvas,” said Ned McNeilage, creative director at Sphere. Shopify’s Black Friday data visualization effort is a perfect example of this type of innovation, he said.
Shopify performed a similar activation on the Exosphere last year.Shopify
The technological advancement of Sphere activation plays a dual role for Shopify: firstly, it aims to give peace of mind to merchants and retailers who use the platform or are considering using it. If Shopify can achieve this, the thinking goes, then they are an even more reliable partner for handling the modern complexities of running a global e-commerce business.
Loh also hopes the activation will help small merchants and entrepreneurs on the platform feel seen during the busiest time of the year.
“Running a business can be quite lonely,” he said. “When you see all this activity on Sphere or in the Live Globe, you suddenly think, ‘I’m part of something much bigger. »
A few Shopify staff will be on the ground in Vegas on Black Friday to coordinate helicopter and drone footage of the Sphere as shoppers around the world do their thing. Loh hopes the content will gain traction on social media amid the flow of e-commerce dollars.
“It’s not really about the people in Vegas seeing this,” Loh said. “It’s about creating something that, as content, will stop people in their scrolling.”
